1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an applicator, and more particularly to a dental agent applicator that has a barrel and a delivery head mounted permanently on the barrel and using the dental agent applicator requires no need to detach or attach any other components.
2. Description of Related Art
Dental agent such as bonding agent is applied to a tooth surface to firmly attach a dental restoration to the tooth surface.
Dental agent applicators are disposable and are used to store and apply dental agent to a tooth surface. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,578,055 and 4,997,371 discloses conventional dental applicators having a barrel, a plunger and a delivery tip. The barrel receives dental agent. The delivery tip is mounted on a front end of the barrel and has a brush mounted therein. Before use, a sealing cap covers the front end of the dental agent applicator. Right before use, the sealing cap is replaced with the delivery tip. After use, the delivery tip is replaced by the sealing cap and stored away.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,684 discloses another conventional dental agent applicator being similar to the aforementioned applicators and modifying the delivery tip. The modified delivery tip has a passageway and a helical ridge formed in the passageway to hold the brush in place. A sealing cap covers the front end off the barrel before using the applicator.
However, the delivery tips of aforementioned applicator does not have any sealing function so that the airtight sealing cap is necessarily mounted on the applicator to prevent oxidation or evaporation of the liquid dental agent. Therefore, replacing the sealing cap with the delivery tip wastes time. A package including the applicator, delivery tip, and sealing cap is cumbersome such that storing, transporting, or using such packages is inconvenient and costly.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a dental agent applicator to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.